kitchen42
Joined May 2001
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Reviews7
kitchen42's rating
***Possible Spoliers***
Waterloo is a fantastic film, and is worthy of more praise than it receives. I am a big fan of this era of warfare, and Waterloo is one of the few films that actually does it justice. The action scenes are like nothing else I have seen before. The portrayal of all the characters, not just Wellington and Bonaparte, was excellent, considering the epic size of the movie.
Both Christopher Plummer as the Duke of Wellington and Rod Steiger as Napoleon Bonaparte did fantastic jobs portraying their characters. Their performances were particularly excellent in the way that Steiger and Plummer acted their characters, in such differing ways, with Napoleon crying and saying Goodbye My Sons' just before his abdication, whilst Wellington remarks to the Dutches of Richmond that his men are scum of the earth'.
Both characters quirky humour is shown well with Wellington promoting the Irish private from the 27th regiment, better known as the Inniskilling, to corporal for being able to defend a helpless situation' after Wellington caught him with a pig. Other characters such as General Sir Thomas Picton, Sir William Ponsonby and Lord Uxbridge were fantastic, but for mine the best co-starring role was that of Dan O'Herlihy as Marshall Michel Ney, the red-headed General who lost the Emperor his cavalry, just as Uxbridge lost Wellington his. O'Herlihy had great lines and portrayed Ney as a brave and courageous man.
As I eluded to earlier the battle scenes were fantastic, particularly the two cavalry charges, the best one being the French charge, led by the afore mentioned Marshall Ney. The shots of the French cavalry riding over the ridge to be faced with the British infantry in square are some of the best of the film. The charge of Britain's heavies', the Life Guards, Inniskilling Horse and Scots Greys is the second best action sequence in the whole film.
The infantry sequences are reasonable also, but not as good as the cavalry sequences, and I am sure that the last volley, fired by the British Guards would have hit their own men, but anyway. The only quibble I have with the volley sequences are that the final scenes involving the Imperial Guard are different to what is portrayed in the books. History says that there were only a thin two deep line of redcoats, at the centre of the line, where Maitland's men were positioned, not three or four rows, but apart from that the battle scenes were excellent.
The only sad thing in the film, was the dubbed voice of Sir Thomas Picton, played by Jack Hawkins who had throat cancer at the time, and also the non-violent depiction of the battle scenes which did not accurately show the carnage and blood of the Battle of Waterloo.
Overall the film was fantastic, I would dearly love to track down the 5-hour directors cut which is rumoured to be around somewhere, and I must add that I was amazed that this film flopped at the box office. I thought cinema-goers would have lapped up this sort of epic action again and again, but obviously not.
Waterloo is a fantastic film, and is worthy of more praise than it receives. I am a big fan of this era of warfare, and Waterloo is one of the few films that actually does it justice. The action scenes are like nothing else I have seen before. The portrayal of all the characters, not just Wellington and Bonaparte, was excellent, considering the epic size of the movie.
Both Christopher Plummer as the Duke of Wellington and Rod Steiger as Napoleon Bonaparte did fantastic jobs portraying their characters. Their performances were particularly excellent in the way that Steiger and Plummer acted their characters, in such differing ways, with Napoleon crying and saying Goodbye My Sons' just before his abdication, whilst Wellington remarks to the Dutches of Richmond that his men are scum of the earth'.
Both characters quirky humour is shown well with Wellington promoting the Irish private from the 27th regiment, better known as the Inniskilling, to corporal for being able to defend a helpless situation' after Wellington caught him with a pig. Other characters such as General Sir Thomas Picton, Sir William Ponsonby and Lord Uxbridge were fantastic, but for mine the best co-starring role was that of Dan O'Herlihy as Marshall Michel Ney, the red-headed General who lost the Emperor his cavalry, just as Uxbridge lost Wellington his. O'Herlihy had great lines and portrayed Ney as a brave and courageous man.
As I eluded to earlier the battle scenes were fantastic, particularly the two cavalry charges, the best one being the French charge, led by the afore mentioned Marshall Ney. The shots of the French cavalry riding over the ridge to be faced with the British infantry in square are some of the best of the film. The charge of Britain's heavies', the Life Guards, Inniskilling Horse and Scots Greys is the second best action sequence in the whole film.
The infantry sequences are reasonable also, but not as good as the cavalry sequences, and I am sure that the last volley, fired by the British Guards would have hit their own men, but anyway. The only quibble I have with the volley sequences are that the final scenes involving the Imperial Guard are different to what is portrayed in the books. History says that there were only a thin two deep line of redcoats, at the centre of the line, where Maitland's men were positioned, not three or four rows, but apart from that the battle scenes were excellent.
The only sad thing in the film, was the dubbed voice of Sir Thomas Picton, played by Jack Hawkins who had throat cancer at the time, and also the non-violent depiction of the battle scenes which did not accurately show the carnage and blood of the Battle of Waterloo.
Overall the film was fantastic, I would dearly love to track down the 5-hour directors cut which is rumoured to be around somewhere, and I must add that I was amazed that this film flopped at the box office. I thought cinema-goers would have lapped up this sort of epic action again and again, but obviously not.
Some people have described this film as bad because of the 'wooden' acting. Surely the spectacle, size and scope of the battle scenes make up for this supposed lack of acting skills.
I personally beleive the acting in this film is great, and the multitude of stars is just one reason to watch. Sadly because of the short space of time the movie has, and the number of characters it is hard to get involved with each of the charcters as an individual, as you would in a war film about one or a select few, like Patton. This has to be about the film's only flaw.
Albeit the war scenes lack a large amount of gore, in-fact they show any, with men not even screaming when they die. This has to be expected considering the film was made in a time where special effects were not as amazing as they are today.
Despite all of this, this has to be my favourite war movie, and my third favourite film all up. I could watch it purely for the battle scenes, but I also enjoy the film because of the way the events are depicted from three positions: those of the Germans in France, the French citizens and the Allied soldiers.
I beleive you cannot go wrong with this film. Some of the early parts are a little slow but that is all forgotten by the time the first glider-borne troops crash onto the Orne River Bridge and D-Day begins.
A great film, patriotic, exciting and very very gripping. I give this film an 9.5 from a possible 10.
I personally beleive the acting in this film is great, and the multitude of stars is just one reason to watch. Sadly because of the short space of time the movie has, and the number of characters it is hard to get involved with each of the charcters as an individual, as you would in a war film about one or a select few, like Patton. This has to be about the film's only flaw.
Albeit the war scenes lack a large amount of gore, in-fact they show any, with men not even screaming when they die. This has to be expected considering the film was made in a time where special effects were not as amazing as they are today.
Despite all of this, this has to be my favourite war movie, and my third favourite film all up. I could watch it purely for the battle scenes, but I also enjoy the film because of the way the events are depicted from three positions: those of the Germans in France, the French citizens and the Allied soldiers.
I beleive you cannot go wrong with this film. Some of the early parts are a little slow but that is all forgotten by the time the first glider-borne troops crash onto the Orne River Bridge and D-Day begins.
A great film, patriotic, exciting and very very gripping. I give this film an 9.5 from a possible 10.